This invention relates to medical beds having the capability of positioning a patient in various positions.
It has long been desirable to have multipositional beds for use in the care of certain types of medical patients, especially extended care patients. In particular, these types of beds are desirable for any patient requiring a change of position with minimal trauma, as well as for any patient who is unable to change positions by himself. For example, coronary patients, burn patients, patients with spinal cord or other back injuries, orthopedic patients, patients in traction, and patients requiring treatment for shock, as well as intensive care patients in general, often need to have their positions changed at intervals, and often they either cannot or should not do so on their own.
Body position changes may be desirable merely for reasons of convenience, such as to change bed linens; however, they also may be absolutely essential to prevent serious health problems which may occur with extended bed care, such as deterioration of cardiovascular or respiratory or urinary functions, osteoporosis, muscle atrophy, decubitus ulcers, and even static pneumonia. On the other hand, a patient who is turned, or whose position is changed, without special precautions may suffer great trauma, prolonging or even aggravating his medical problems. Burn patients, for example, may have their healing times greatly prolonged and suffer much pain and discomfort due to the necessity for moving or turning them in their beds, and it is not uncommon even to destroy skin grafts during such position changes.
A wide variety of prior art beds have been designed in attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with changing the positions of medical patients. All of them suffer from one or more deficiencies which limit their utility or desirability. Some are composed of complex structures and provide only limited access to the patient from much of the area around the bed. Some are relatively cumbersome, heavy or immobile, or they are not adaptable to being conveyed or lifted by conventional means in most hospitals. Most prior art beds are not easily cleaned, and they often have numerous crevices in which contamination may occur. Those prior art devices which achieve any significant capability for multipositional operation typically have a large number of moving parts and may require a great deal of maintenance. None of the prior art devices provides complete utility for a full range of medical treatments. Many require electric motors or other drive means which are not only subject to malfunction but may produce eddy currents which interfere with sensitive electronic equipment or even induce problems in coronary patients having electric pacemakers.
The more ambitious efforts to overcome the problems of the prior art have resulted in beds of still greater complexity, expense, and susceptibility to malfunctioning, or other problems.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or greatly alleviate the problems of the prior art medical beds.